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We know we are to give value at every opportunity. But how do you know how much to give away and how much to "reserve" for paying products or services. The answer is you will never, ever run out of ideas or services or products so keep giving. In fact, having to come up with a new product or service only helps you grow yourself as you move beyond your comfort zone, learn new techniques, and reform your current ideas. When you give great value, you receive great value simply by giving. The Marketing Funnel is Wide at the Top The idea behind a Marketing Funnel is that the top is wide and is meant to offer incentives and free products that entice the general site visitor to give you their name and address in exchange for your free report, or newsletter, or mini-e-course. It has great value and it is free. After You Build Trust They Will Pay You As you build their trust, through an ongoing newsletter for instance, they will move closer to purchasing something from you. At this level, you'll want to provide some low prices items that help them begin to understand the value of what you offer. You offer a product proportionate to their trust level. 80% Of Your Sales Will Come From 20% Of Your List At the narrower end of the Marketing Funnel are the higher priced items that people are comfortable buying after the get to know you. These are major CD sets, books, workshops, and teleclasses. You'll want to have products in all three of these levels. How Do You Know How Much To Give Away At Each Level? "Give as much as you can give and then give more" is a philosophy I first heard through Michael Port, author of the upcoming "Book Yourself Solid." He says we must always be aware of the value we give. For instance, if you go hang out on a forum, give and give and give value. Don't ask for anything in return. That's attractive to people and they will ultimately be drawn to you and what you offer. Make everything you offer rich in content. Give them more than they asked for. Give them more than they expected. Besides, it feels good to give great value! What Can You Give Away Right Now? On the first day in this current 90-Day Product Factory course I am taking, I offered everyone in the course three of my e-books for free. It was truly in the spirit of passing it forward because all three of those e-books had come into being either in Product Factory 3 or Traffic School 1. It felt wonderful because I knew how valuable it would be to have so much information focused in an e-book as people were working to build their signature products. I had worked to gather the information and knew its value. Only after I had offered these e-books to 60 people did it occur to me that perhaps some of them would be willing to give me a testimonial to place on my web site. I didn't do it to get something back, I did it to pass it forward, but I have already made my first Australian friend and by giving so generously, I have made myself available in that environment to meet many more people. In fact, I got a call from one of the team leaders to be a guest expert on one of her team calls to talk about e-books. I already know that talk is going to be recorded, the Power Point put into Camtasia and the whole offering will be free on my web site to give value to those who visit. I didn't expect that. I just gave away value and opportunity knocked. Give Without Expecting Anything Back Give without expecting anything back. Give the greatest value you have to give. Give because you want to help others. Give because it is fun. Give as much as you can give, and then give more. © Cara Lumen 2006 Feel free to reprint this article if you include the following: Cara Lumen, MA, Your Idea Optimizer helps you turn your ideas into steady profit. As a business developer, content developer and educator, Cara helps you make money from what you already know. You can learn more about how to put your wisdom to work through her radio show www.blogtalkradio.com/passioantelyonpurpose and her Passionately On Purpose emagazine at www.caralumen.com
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Cara Lumen |